(

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: "News from the (mental) institute") was a political cabaret program on German television station

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

, hosted by

Urban Priol Urban Priol (born 14 May 1961) is a German people, German Kabarett artist and comedian. Life Urban Priol was born on 14 May 1961, in Aschaffenburg. He spent his childhood in Obernburg am Main. In 1980, he made his abitur at the Kronberg-Gymnasiu ...

and

Frank-Markus Barwasser Frank-Markus Barwasser (born 16 February 1960 in Würzburg) is a German political satirist and journalist. On stage, he almost always acts as the character of Erwin Pelzig, wearing a corduroy hat. Barwasser grew up in Würzburg, Lower Franconia ...

, who replaced Georg Schramm. Broadcast monthly from 2007 to 2013, it usually featured three guest cabaret artists in addition to the hosts. After the program's surprise cancellation in 2013, it was resurrected in 2014 under the title ''Die Anstalt'', replacing hosts Urban Priol and Frank-Markus Barwasser with

Max Uthoff Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

and

Claus von Wagner Claus von Wagner (born 28 November 1977) is a German Kabarett artist, a stand-up observational comic and political satirist. Early life Born in Munich, von Wagner grew up in Miesbach, south-east of Munich. His father, originally from Prussia, w ...

History

ZDF had not broadcast a political cabaret program since the cancellation of ''

Notizen aus der Provinz ''Notizen aus der Provinz'' ( German for "news from the province") was a political cabaret program hosted by Dieter Hildebrandt and broadcast by ZDF from 1973 to 1979. After its cancellation, it would be the last such program on the channel until ...

'' with

Dieter Hildebrandt Dieter Hildebrandt (23 May 1927 – 20 November 2013) was a German Kabarett artist. Biography Hildebrandt was born in Bunzlau, Lower Silesia, Weimar Germany (now Boleslawiec, Poland) where he attended school. In World War II he became a Fla ...

in 1979, who, as a result, switched to the other German public broadcasting channel, Das Erste, where he created the '' Scheibenwischer''. ''Neues aus der Anstalt'' was first broadcast on 24 January 2007, when it aired just after ''

heute journal ''heute-journal'' (roughly ''Today's Journal'') is a television news magazine broadcast on ZDF, a national German television network. History The programme premiered on 2 January 1978 as a late weekday evening 20 minute program. Originally, i ...

''.

About the show

The show was broadcast live from

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, one Tuesday evening a month. Its theme was a fictional

psychiatric clinic Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

where Priol acted as the head of medicine, while Schramm portrayed some of his characters as patients. Schramm's pensioner Lothar Dombrowski acted as the patients' spokesperson. He also appeared as the old Hessian

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

August and the ''

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

'' officer ''

Oberstleutnant () is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedi ...

'' Sanftleben ("Softlife"). Up to three guest artists portrayed other characters, either fellow patients or outside visitors, as well. Frank-Markus Barwasser in his alter ego Erwin Pelzig replaced Schramm as the co-host of the show in 2010. Similar to , strove to limit its content to political cabaret and did not feature other kinds of humor, such as stand-up or situational comedy. The German word ("institute") is used for both mental institutions (, ) and public broadcasting institutions ().

Reception

The show surpassed 's ratings by over a million viewers in its first episode. However the second episode was less successful. Ratings fell to the level of , although the show attracted a larger number of younger viewers, compared to the usual demographic of ZDF viewers. Although the ratings were lower than the first episode, they remained good, capturing a 13% market share (2.73 million per show) in its first year and stayed at that level.

References

External links

''Neues aus der Anstalt'' official website
* {{IMDb title, 0956324, Neues aus der Anstalt German satirical television shows German political satire ZDF original programming 2007 German television series debuts 2013 German television series endings German-language television shows